1. Field Of The Invention
This invention relates to fishing lures, and more particularly, to fishing lures of the type which employ a light reflective spoon as a part of the lure.
2. Brief Description Of The Prior Art
Toepper U.S. Pat. 2,167,163 discloses a fish bait which has a dished metallic plate which is truncated at one of its ends and has a retrieving line hole formed therethrough at its other end. A hook is mounted centrally on the plate. The hook is mounted on the plate by means of bands or tabs punched out of the plate and extending into the concavity on the dished side of the plate. The eye of the hook is then passed underneath one of these punched out tabs, and the shank, where it joins the bight portion of the hook, can be extended underneath another band formed by forcing a part of the plate upwardly out of the major plane of the plate.
A pair of small wires function as weed guard wires projecting upwardly on the concave side of the plate in a direction toward the barb of the hook. These weed guard wires are, similarly to the shank of the hook, extended under a small band or loop which is stamped out of the plate by cutting a pair of parallel lines through the plate adjacent its center line and forcing a protuberant band loop upwardly out of the plate on its concave or dished side. The ends of the two weed guard wires are then bent back, and the end portions of the wires forced under the loop pressed out of the metal plate.
As previously indicated, an aperture or opening is cut through one end of the plate, and the other end is truncated or squared off.
Yet another slot is cut out of one end portion of the plate to accommodate a swivel eye and an elongated pork rind attached to the plate through the swivel eye. These holes and bridges or bands which are cut through and forced out of the metallic plate give it altogether different hydrodynamic properties, as it is pulled through the water on retrieve, from those which would characterize a solid, unperforated spoon.
The Toepper lure requires substantial machining to form the bands or loops out of the plate, and stamp the necessary holes and tabs therefrom. Moreover, the shank portion of the hook carried by the bait does not touch the plate over a major portion of its length, and thus allows impaction or accumulation of dirt, slime and other debris in the space between the shank of the hook and the concavity therebelow and forming a part of the plate.
Lobdell U.S. Pat. No. 2,468,988 discloses a fish lure in which a barb is secured to a concave side of a spoon plate. The barb is secured to the plate only by a shaped finger or hook catch which is formed integrally with the body of the spoon by punching or stamping the finger from the body in the direction of the concave or dished side of the spoon plate.
Another opening or slot is formed through the Lobdell lure near one end thereof, and this receives a tail portion bent out of the shank of the hook. It is believed, however, that there is not adequate anchorage of the shank of this hook to prevent it from pivoting or becoming canted with respect to a plane which bisects the axis of the spoon plate, and it is believed that it will not remain stable when clamped in the mouth of a fighting fish.